Ron,

Interesting conversion you are planning.  Hope you have luck with it.  There
was one guy here a few years back who wedged a 6.5L into a Land Rover.  The
6.5's are very popular for marine use as well.

I will answer what I know about this motor, so I'll take it by the numbers.

I can no longer find the specs for the 6.5L turbo diesel on GM Powertrain's
web site to tell you the weight.  I can tell you it is slightly heavier than
a 350 (actually about in the range of the 454) because it was all iron, but
somehow it was still light enough for it to be available in half-ton model
trucks without modifications to the front suspension to support the weight.
The 6.5L has a vacuum pump driven by the serpentine belt on the front
passenger's side of the motor.

2.  The form factor for the 6.2 is very similar to the 350 and will fit all
transmissions that the 350 used.  The 6.5L is also similar, although I can't
tell you about the mount points.  However, you should be aware that the 6.5L
turbo version has the turbo hanging off the passenger's side of the motor
right over the valve cover, which may bring into question whether or not it
will fit comfortably into a smaller engine bay like the T100 without
severely modifying the right side wheel well (especially for the intake and
exhaust plumbing).  The downtube for the turbo definitely needs some room -
and most likely some heat shielding as well.  There is also a normally
aspirated version of the 6.5L without the turbo.

3.  The 6.2L's had mechanical fuel injection pumps, as did the very early
6.5L's (1993).  The pump was the DB2.  On '94 and later 6.5L's they switched
to the all-electronic DS4 which has an electronic throttle as well (no
throttle cables).  I believe that you can retrofit an older DB2 pump onto a
newer 6.5L but you lose some fuel efficiency because you no longer have a
computer monitoring then engine and making constant adjustments.

4.  Obviously the T100 wasn't designed to have a heavy motor in it so weight
may be a significant issue with the front suspension (I believe the heaviest
motor was a small aluminum V-8?  Not the same as an iron diesel V-8 by a
long shot).  If this turns out to be a problem, you could look into an even
older 350 V-8 diesel from Olds - I know very little about these motors but
there are some folks here who say the final versions of these motors before
they were discontinued in favor of the 6.2L's were very good - this might be
worth looking into.

Cheers - Jonathan

Hi!

I don't know the exact weight, but I can tell you this is a *very* heavy
engine when it is complete and together.

The vacuum pump on mine is (I think) part of the power steering pump.
There's another smaller one attached to the engine under the air cleaner at
the rear of the motor, but I think all it does is provide suction for the
thermostat controls.

I don't know the most about this as I have not investigated it. My answers
here could be incomplete or wrong. Both items do have something to do with
vacuum generation however.

Yes.

I would worry about the handling of your truck. If it is anything like my
6.2-equipped 1984 Sierra, expect your truck to be *very* front heavy and
back light. You may not be happy with such a conversion for this very
reason.

William